Wrap: Warriors perfect again; Zavoli wins MSL diving

With 3:25 left in the third in quarter, seniors Brittany Begrowicz and Mary Kusner got it perfect.

Many times during the season, Begrowicz flipped passes inside to a leaping Kusner, who would catch the ball and put in the short jumper.

This time, though, all in one motion, Kusner caught the ball in mid-air and released it immediately for a picture-perfect alley-oop.

About 10 minutes later, the Warriors were perfect again in Central Suburban North girls basketball.

A 52-29 triumph at Maine East gave the Warriors a 10-0 record, one of many they've had through the years under Hall of Fame coach Derril Kipp, who has 672 career wins.

"That was the first time we really ever connected like that," said Begrowicz of her lob to Kusner. "That's the best it's ever worked."

The Warriors (23-7) were working well on offense and defense as they built a 16-3 lead early in the second quarter.

Senior Megan O'Grady (16 points) hit a 3-pointer to give the Blue Demons a 3-0 lead, then West rattled off 16 straight points.

Kusner had 7 points during the blitz while Begrowicz (11 points, 6 rebounds) had a 3-pointer, Colleen Vana (5 assists) scored 4 points and Ellen Coogan had 2 points.

Kusner finished with a game-high 18 points and 7 rebounds.

"Mary had a nice game," Kipp said. "And a lot of her points came on passes from Brittany (Begrowicz), so you have to give Brittany a lot of credit, too."

Kipp was able to play all 15 of her girls, and senior Michelle Braun capped the Warriors' regular season-scoring with a 3-point play after hitting a 12-footer from the baseline.

"Our game plan was pretty much to come out and try to stay undefeated," said Braun, who scored 7 points, including a rebound 8-footer in the second quarter.

West's next goal is to win a Class 4A regional crown on its home floor. On Tuesday at 6 p.m., the No. 4-seeded Warriors will meet the winner of Monday's regional play-in between Maine East (14) and Steinmetz (20).

"To me , conference is the most important things we do," said Kipp, who has won 20 in 27 seasons, including a streak of 110 straight conference wins. "We take a lot of pride in winning it. That's is our first goal every year.

"Now our big focus is to get ready for the regionals. We want to play this year as well as we did down stretch last year (won a sectional crown).

"The big key is Erin Baumstark and Colleen Vana (senior guards). If they play well, we'll go far."

Boys diving

For Barrington's Joe Zavoli, familiar surroundings provided the ideal venue to showcase his skills.

Zavoli easily captured the Mid-Suburban League boys diving title, amassing 308.80 points in 11 dives during competition at Barrington.

The diving event opened the MSL meet. The swimmers from the 12 schools will gather at Barrington beginning at 1 p.m. this afternoon to battle for conference honors.

Evan Ruggiero of Fremd was second in the 18-diver field with 287.95 points. Just behind in third was Conant's Nick Rizza (287.2).

Rounding out the top five were Schaumburg's Joe Buckley (286.15) and Barrington's Tim Karsen (283.1).